Sir Ian McKellen: older women should have more stage and screen roles

Lord of the Rings star Sir Ian McKellen has urged playwrights to create more
roles for mature actresses in a bid to reinvigorate the British theatre and
television.

Sir Ian McKellen, who turned 70 last month

By David Barrett

8:44AM BST 06 Jun 2009

Sir Ian backed a campaign by actors' union Equity which called on broadcasters to change their attitudes towards actresses aged over 45, in a petition which has been signed by 4,000 people including Julie Walters and Harry Potter actress Imelda Staunton.

In an interview with The Stage newspaper Sir Ian said: "Look at Calendar Girls and Madame de Sade. Both are so popular – that is very telling.

"People might have thought 'Who wants to see plays about older women?' Well, the general public do. An awful lot of older women and gentlemen go to the theatre, and the population is getting older."

He added: "Plays about getting older are perhaps going to be more popular than they used to be and that should help playwrights think, well, we can find some fabulous parts for the fabulous actresses that are around."

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Sir Ian, who turned 70 last month, said TV commissioning editors who were only interested in programmes about younger people were "missing out".

The actor, famous for playing Gandalf in the successful Tolkein trilogy and for the role of the villainous Magneto in the X-Men films, went on: "Everybody wants to see actresses like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. It's just up to people to provide them with the material to do so."

Sir Ian is currently starring in a West End production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot – a play which features no female roles.